Massachusetts Liberal

• Coincidence? I think not.

  I'm reading Joanna Weiss' inaugural op-ed while Mrs. O.L. is reading about the season's hottest new toy.
  
  What's that say about us -- never mind the American public?More blogs about Politics.
  var sc_project=1947180; var sc_invisible=1; var sc_partition=17; var sc_security="083b12b0"; [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 21, 2009, 10:41am EST
  

• Galooch's Law

  Massachusetts, like other states, has a tradition of naming laws after people who inspire their creation, particularly for causes such as abducted children or victims of drunken driving.
  
  So it's in that tradition that I'm here to propose a new piece of legislation for Massachusetts -- Galooch's [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 21, 2009, 8:32am EST
  

• Beacon Hill firefight

  Hey political junkie. Yeah you. Bored by the lack of real action in the Senate race? Well, I've got the cure for your blues.
  
  That initial skirmish between Deval Patrick and House Speaker Robert DeLeo is starting to really percolate. And no, not over why' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 20, 2009, 5:08am EST
  

• Pols gone wild

  There wasn't some of the blatant stupidity that has marked some legislative sessions -- like the infamous 2000 House "Toga" party.
  
  But the simmering animus between lawmakers and Gov. Deval Patrick boiled to the surface to close the first year of a two-year term that is likely to be' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 19, 2009, 5:00am EST
  

• No interest

  "Dear Valued Customer -- we're jacking up your interest rates to pay for our taxpayer-financed bailout you're already paying for."
  
  That's pretty much the gist behind the mail that has been trickling in over the last few weeks from Citibank, telling me my base credit card interest rate will [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 18, 2009, 5:18am EST
  

• Blocking schemes

  It's that time of campaign season, when sincere volunteers and robo candidates bombard your phone with with pleas for support. It's one of the reasons I'm happy to have caller ID.
  
  Or not.
  
  There was an interesting contrast to the two calls yesterday. One listed the number and' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 18, 2009, 5:12am EST
  

• When Coram met Ampad

  Good thing that Senate Democratic candidate Steve Pagliuca hired Tad Devine to do his campaign commercials for him. That way he can't have Devine craft the kind of spot that did in Mitt Romney in his 1994 race against Ted Kennedy.
  
  The Herald has a look at [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 17, 2009, 5:28am EST
  

• Senators (and police) behaving badly

  Not that I have any personal experience in the matter, but do cops normally drive you home if you are reported too drunk to do it on your own?
  
  The special treatment afforded Sen. Anthony Galluccio by the Cambridge police also stands in rather sharp contrast to [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 17, 2009, 5:12am EST
  

• Another media zoo?

  I couldn't help but notice the coincidence.
  
  The Globe (properly) highlights the peril awaiting many poor families with children after yet another round of human service budget cutting that has -- to date -- been pretty hidden from public view.
  
  Meanwhile, buried as a brief, we quietly' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 17, 2009, 5:01am EST
  

• Two faces of Pags

  Mike Capuano has an anger management problem. Steve Pagliuca has a consistency problem. One can be fixed. The other? I'm not so sure.
  “Steve appreciates the role lobbyists play in educating policy makers on the impact of legislation under consideration,’’ his press aide Will Keyser said. “At the' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 16, 2009, 5:09am EST
  

• Feds to T: Step aside

  The Washington Post is reporting the Obama administration is looking at the idea of having the federal government take over safety regulation of the nation's subway and light-rail transit systems.
  
  After two Green Line crashes in the last two years, it sounds like a marvelous idea.More blogs' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 15, 2009, 9:07am EST
  

• Truly fruity, oh Rudy!

  Margery Eagan has a great column today that truly makes you hope the Mayan calendar might be right.More blogs about Politics.
  var sc_project=1947180; var sc_invisible=1; var sc_partition=17; var sc_security="083b12b0"; [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 15, 2009, 9:02am EST
  

• Welcome back Sarah

  I don't know about you, but I've been bereft without Sarah Schweitzer's ongoing saga of how old line and well-t0-do New Englanders have been dealing with the economic downturn.
  
  So her dispatch from the Boston Athenaeum (usually pronounced Athen-EE-um, but sometimes as Athen-AY-um) was an unexpected gift.More blogs' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 15, 2009, 8:56am EST
  

• There's not an app for that

  Excuse me, but why do I want to pay $3.99 to tell me the train or bus is delayed? I already know that.
  
  And forgive me for being cynical about the ability to accurately predict when it will show up. And how, exactly, will it work in the [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 14, 2009, 2:25pm EST
  

• Predictable hypocrisy

  Leave it to the Republican Party to oppose the Constitution.
  
  House Minority Leader John Boehner is in high dudgeon over the Obama administration's announcement that it will try Khalid Sheik Mohammed and other alleged 9-11 conspirators in a civilian courtroom in New York City. The decision places the' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 14, 2009, 9:30am EST
  

• Circumstantial ugliness

  There's no way Deval Patrick wins this one.
  
  I seriously doubt Robert and Myra Kraft through they were buying support for a federally financed footbridge over Route 1 when they donated $12,000 to Patrick and the state Democratic Party.
  
  But it hardly matters what the Krafts' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 13, 2009, 5:33am EST
  

• Oops, I did it again

  The Democratic US Senate candidates have offered a veritable feast in the last few days for political watchers who love to watch candidates screw up.
  
  We'll skip right over Alan Khazei reaching for the endorsement of Mike Bloomberg -- and all that's represented by having a former Medford [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 13, 2009, 5:06am EST
  

• What if you had an election & nobody came?

  Here we are, less than a month from the Dec. 8 Senate primary election and apparently nine in 10 Massachusetts voters don't even know the date -- with 7 in 10 not even knowing the month.
  
  Maybe the candidates ought to make some changes in their ubiquitous television' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 12, 2009, 5:06am EST
  

• First you say you will, then you won't...

  Who knew you would need Dramamine to keep up with the Massachusetts Democratic Senate primary?
  
  But in an outstanding display of political dexterity, Rep. Mike Capuano has emulated the new senior senator by declaring he was for the bill before he will be against it. And [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 11, 2009, 5:25am EST
  

• Numbers please?

  We're from the government and we're here to help you -- count.
  
  Excellent piece of reporting in today's Globe on how many jobs stimulus dollars are supposed to have have created -- and what the reality is.
  
  While I'm sure critics of the Obama administration (and Deval [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 11, 2009, 5:14am EST
  

• Calculatin' Cahill

  It looks as if Tim Cahill is planning for a gubernatorial campaign with more substance than his daughter inventing a catchy theme that won his the treasurer's job.
  
  But his decision to hire a lawyer to do opposition research -- a move that could enable him to shield' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 10, 2009, 5:33am EST
  

• The substance of campaign headaches

  Now I see why Steve Lynch opted not to join the race for the Democratic US Senate seat.
  
  While Lynch told the Globe there was no favoritism in the earmarks for substance abuse grants to an organization to which his wife has ties, the reality has a certain [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 10, 2009, 5:27am EST
  

• Be careful what you wish for

  So much for the play-it-safe front runner strategy. But I have to ask: what were you thinking Martha?
  
  Attorney General and Democratic US Senate front-runner Martha Coakley certainly cast off the label of risk aversive yesterday by declaring she would have voted against the US House version [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 10, 2009, 5:05am EST
  

• Of dinners and debates

  One month out from an historic Democratic Senate primary and all we can talk about is debates and dinner tabs?
  
  Oh, I forgot. We can also debate 15-year-old campaign commercials.
  
  And the bad timing of the campaign award goes to the Herald for a story [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 09, 2009, 5:14am EST
  

• Anyone minding the store?

  The screw-ups just keep on coming for the Patrick administration.
  
  One day after the double whammy of stories that suggest the administration seems to favor the Patriots over the homeless we are treated to a Globe story that shows the one thing the state's overburdened transportation doesn't seem [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 08, 2009, 9:02am EST
  

• Appearance counts

  To the policy wonks out there, the Globe's stories about the Patrick administration's use of federal stimulus cash to build a footbridge at Gillette Stadium and plans to reduce funding for the homeless are unrelated -- separate caches of cash to be used for different reasons.
  
  But [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 07, 2009, 8:50am EST
  

• Ready, re-aim, fire

  Now let me get this straight -- you didn't notice the big ship with the guns when you bought the condo?
  
  It seems neighbors of Old Ironsides are looking to change a 200-year-plus tradition of firing the warship's cannons twice daily.
  “The residential population [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 07, 2009, 6:53am EST
  

• This is going to get ugly

  The tragedy at Fort Hood, with the death of 12 soldiers and the wounding of 31 others, would have been bad enough if the gunman was named John Smith.
  
  But I fear that a nation that should focus on what happens when men and women in a voluntary [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 06, 2009, 4:58am EST
  

• Of old dogs and new tricks

  Mayor for Life Tom Menino wants you to believe he is refreshed and energized as he stares at the start of his fifth term -- brimming with new idea to tackle the problems of education, public safety and city administration.
  
  Of course this same new vision suggests the [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 05, 2009, 5:01am EST
  

• Unsafe at any speed

  How'd you like to be on the Green Line this morning reading the Globe headline "Report Finds T's Riders at Risk." Actually it's a somewhat moot point: if you use the MBTA regularly, you already know that.
  
  What's interesting in the report by a special panel commissioned by [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 04, 2009, 5:21am EST
  

• Pundits gone wild

  The great analyzers are offering tales of caution for Barack Obama this morning, with predictions that Republican victories against a wildly unpopular Democrat in New Jersey and by a conservative acolyte in Virginia may be early signs of a tsunami ready to sweep out Democrats a year from [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 04, 2009, 5:00am EST
  

• Inside out

  Well at least the day wasn't a total loss for Steve Pagliuca. The Celtics cinched an important part of their future by signing Rajon Rondo to a multi-year deal.
  
  But if the Globe's Bob Ryan finds the 23-year-old Rondo "inscrutable" what to make of one of the men [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 03, 2009, 5:05am EST
  

• Elephant death rattle

  Shh. If you're really quiet, you may actually hear the sound of the Republican Party coming apart at the seams.
  
  On the one hand, you have the effort by moderates trying to revive the virtually extinct New England branch of the party once so honorably represented in Massachusetts' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 02, 2009, 5:06am EST
  

• Family values

  Funny, it seems the GOP "values voters" seem to be talking a lot less about the subject these days.
  
  Could it be that this contrast -- a White House of Halloween trick-or-treating and an honest discussion of marriage compared to the tabloid trashing going [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 01, 2009, 12:51pm EST
  

• Is that all there is?

  As we get ready to pull the curtain to unveil Boston Mayor Tom Menino's fifth term "vision," it seems high time to reflect what is and what's in store.
  
  The Globe offers a look today at mixed messages in crime prevention and education. Scot Lehigh treated us [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: November 01, 2009, 8:58am EST
  

• A tree died for this?

  It took two reporters, a photographer and who know how many hours of dogged reporting for the New York Times to inform us -- on Page One -- that expensive bicycles get stolen in Paris.
  
  Thank goodness we are on the verge of a shield law that [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 31, 2009, 9:40am EDT
  

• Get a life

  Let's see now: the economy is showing signs of life and the House has unveiled a health care bill for debate. There's got to be something new the right can toss at the feet of Barack Obama.
  
  I got it -- his daughters got swine flu [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 30, 2009, 5:06am EDT
  

• Sacred Cows and the Sacred Cod

  Memo to Charlie Baker and Tim Cahill: Underestimate Deval Patrick at your own risk.
  
  Faced with the task of chopping another $600 million from the state budget, Patrick traveled to Worcester to spell out the details (such as they are), which were then concisely summarized [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 29, 2009, 6:19pm EDT
  

• Ax me no questions

  Things are about as bad as they can get when you have to hold a press availability to talk about all the jobs that federal stimulus dollars have saved in Massachusetts -- right before you swing an ax to eliminate about 2,000 of them.
  
  And that's probably [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 29, 2009, 5:00am EDT
  

• Welcome to the sausage factory

  I love a good political fight as much as the next person. And I even get enmeshed in the procedural wrangling that is government. But I am studiously avoiding the ins and outs of the Capitol Hill wrangling that I still believe will lead to health care legislation. Why?
  
  [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 28, 2009, 5:10am EDT
  

• Hot and cold running candidates

  Victory is in the eye of the beholder in last night's debate among the four Democrats vying for the right to fill the Senate seat held by Ted Kennedy. And a lot of that depends on the gender and style of that beholder.
  
  Attorney General Martha Coakley was [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 27, 2009, 5:24am EDT
  

• No Mangini Magic

  As a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan, I had hoped some of the alleged Belichick magic would rub off on his disciples. I'm still waiting.
  
  But I do agree wholeheartedly that the latest prodigal son, Eric Mangini, has made a bad situation worse. Maybe there were a lot of' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 26, 2009, 5:28am EDT
  

• Let the games begin

  I asked for it. Now I hope I make it home in time from work to get it.
  
  The US Senate race begins with some earnestness this evening with a debate among the four principals on the Democratic side. The 7 p.m. start makes it somewhat problematic for [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 26, 2009, 5:16am EDT
  

• Mirror iamge

  Reading Matt Bai's look at the New Jersey governor's race in today's New York Times Magazine, I was struck by one thought: What happens if you go through the article and insert Deval Patrick every time you see the name Jon Corzine?
  
  I suspect the New Jersey results [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 25, 2009, 3:02pm EDT
  

• This day in trivia

  Did Barack Obama fix the economy, fix the health care system, resolve the stand-off with Iran, formulate an Afghanistan policy and manufacture swine flu vaccine in his spare time?
  
  I can only assume these weighty issues have been resolved. After all, The New York Times devoted precious front page [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 25, 2009, 11:01am EDT
  

• Paranoia strikes deep

  The Obama administration's declaration of emergency may finally release the real virus that is infecting the American body politic: paranoia.
  
  Reading the comments to the Globe's post of the Associated Press story, you would think the black helicopters are warming up. Obviously those folks don't read (or' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 24, 2009, 12:48pm EDT
  

• E-mail follies

  Jay Rourke obviously never met Michael Kineavy. Otherwise he would not have been so stupid as to write disparaging e-mails about the Allston-Brighton community and then fail to double delete them.
  
  Doesn't anyone have a clue about e-mail etiquette -- especially when they work in the' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 24, 2009, 8:38am EDT
  

• Faux fears

  Spare me the crocodile tears from those poor business executives who will have to get by on just $10 million a year.
  
  Obama pay czar Kenneth Feinberg's action affect only 175 executives -- 25 people at each of the seven companies bailed out by taxpayers who would be [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 23, 2009, 5:14am EDT
  

• So long Soupy

  Farewell Milton Supman. You made me laugh.
  
  Soupy Sales was a legend, a pie-throwing clown who did kids shows in the 1950s and '60s. With his expressive face and a host of characters like Black Tooth and White Fang, he was great laughs for a little kid.
  [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 23, 2009, 5:03am EDT
  

• There he goes again

  Step right up and listen as the Amazing Timmie sees into the future. Marvel at his fiscal hindsight. Enjoy his second-guessing.
  
  There are so many holes in Treasurer Tim Cahill's analysis of the Patrick administration's handling of the budget crisis that it's impossible to know where to start. [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 22, 2009, 5:10am EDT
  

• State of Hate

  That big ball of hate consuming the right continues to roll along, gathering momentum in a truly frightening fashion.
  
  The epicenter may well be South Carolina, home of Rep. Joe "You Lie" Wilson, presided over by the honorable Gov. Mark "Appalachian Trail" Sanford with strong leadership from [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 21, 2009, 5:07am EDT
  

• Ho-hummer

  Excuse me, but wasn't it about a month ago that we were brimming with anticipation over an historic race to fill a US senate vacated by the death of a liberal lion?
  
  Granted we are approaching a Boston mayoral election where the incumbent's over-under is 16 percentage points.' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 20, 2009, 5:32am EDT
  

• Cleaning my clock

  And all this time I thought Greenwich, England was the center of time. Who knew it was Fort Collins, Colorado?
  
  It was a simple enough task -- the kitchen wall clock gave up the ghost after 25 years of service that clocked in (sorry, I couldn't resist) at well' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 20, 2009, 5:04am EDT
  

• Ya think?

  Bob Dylan once sang "you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowin'." You can now add to that you don't need a pollster to know people are nervous about the economy.
  
  In a sign the Globe's bottom line must be better, the paper' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 19, 2009, 5:02am EDT
  

• Sucker!

  So who's taking bets that someone in some network television office is going to buy the concept of a reality series dreamed up by Richard Heene?
  
  And when are television news networks going to exhibit the backbone and not fall for every to good to be true opportunity?
  [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 18, 2009, 4:10pm EDT
  

• Numbers game

  Let's note for the record that four times as many people showed up for an flu shot clinic in Jamaica Plain than congregated on the Common to bemoan the state of the union.
  
  The clinic ran out of vaccine. The protesters probably wanted to brew a few [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 18, 2009, 9:07am EDT
  

• Huh?

  I'll give the Globe credit for trying to get to the bottom line of the MBTA's financial structure. But to paraphrase the online headline: "Great complexity of the MBTA adds to its confusion."
  
  By offering the contradictory markers -- low cost per passenger trip but high cost' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 18, 2009, 8:53am EDT
  

• Long overdue accounting

  It took awhile, but the Globe has offered us a very preliminary roundup of the impact of budget cuts on cities and towns across the Commonwealth.
  
  While it is clear that taxes are off the table -- and the Deval Patrick and the Legislature need to work on [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 17, 2009, 9:24am EDT
  

• Big Brother is watching

  I admit I'm a bit uneasy about the prospect of the MBTA police watching me on the Green Line.
  
  Then again, I'm not sure I have a presumption of privacy on public transportation, particularly when there's someone's armpit in my face on a crowded car during summer rush [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 17, 2009, 9:19am EDT
  

• You can run but you can't hide

  Who is running Martha Coakley's campaign for U.S. Senate?
  
  After the bizarre notion that releasing early internal poll numbers was a smart move, the attorney general is now trying to create the bizarre precedent that she can't talk about official business when she's on the campaign trail.
  [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 17, 2009, 9:08am EDT
  

• Just wonderin'

  Now that little Falcon is through upchucking on national TV, is there room in that balloon for Jon, Kate and their eight?
  
  And if there's any extra space, how about Todd English's former fiancee, a downsizing Gisele and anyone else who have far exceeded their 15 minutes [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 17, 2009, 9:01am EDT
  

• "Breathtakingly bad picture"

  Unemployment is up. Tax revenues are down. The federal stimulus pot is running dry. And the worst may be yet to come.
  
  Given the double-barreled dose of bad news, Deval Patrick could be forgiven if he cancelled plans for his Oct. 23 fundraiser with Barack Obama and [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 16, 2009, 5:00am EDT
  

• The Price Ain't Right

  I guess we will have Young Arthur to kick around some more.
  
  And perhaps we should restart that venture by noting that prospective Globe purchaser Steve Taylor discovered The New York Times decided to take The Boston Globe off the market by reading about it on boston.com.
  [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 15, 2009, 5:01am EDT
  

• Inside out

  It won't show up on the financial ledgers, but Sal DiMasi just offered an unintended major contribution to Deval Patrick's re-election bid. And unlike the alleged shadowy deals by the former House Speaker, this one is right out in the open.
  
  With the calendar dictating he get' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 14, 2009, 5:07am EDT
  

• Sweet and sour

  As the bottom continues to fall out of Massachusetts tax collections and yet another round of painful cuts looms, the Legislature has the opportunity to actually do something during its less-than-full autumn session: close a costly corporate tax loophole.
  

  A corporate tax deduction, created last year as a sweetener [...]

  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 13, 2009, 5:04am EDT
  

• Budget blues

  Contrary to the prevailing view that the Patrick administration only releases bad news on Fridays, we've got a boatload of it emerging on Thursday. And there's probably more than enough the cover the rest of the work week and the weekends too.
  
  The unrelenting bad news on' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 09, 2009, 6:27am EDT
  

• If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog

  I can't wait to see what the right wing attack machine makes of the news Barack Obama has won a Nobel Peace Prize.
  
  I'm sure there will be something snarky like he's going to have to fly off to Scandinavia again.
  
  You thought the Obamas got Bo [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 09, 2009, 6:22am EDT
  

• The heat is on

  Tom Menino has found a way to save a few bucks on energy in City Hall the upcoming heating season. Have the attorney general look over your shoulder.
  
  But things may also warm up on the 21st floor aerie in the McCormack State Office Building with Martha Coakley's' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 08, 2009, 5:20am EDT
  

• Frankly Mayor, you just don't get it

  What is happening to the vaunted Menino political antenna?
  
  As Outlookgate escalates, Tom Menino continues to be less than appropriate in his response to the revelations that his top aide, Michael Kineavy, seemed to have played fast and loose with e-mails required to be maintained under state law.
  
  [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 07, 2009, 5:07am EDT
  

• Tales of Pinocchio

  I know I never remember when I get a new computer in the office.
  
  That appears to be just the latest tall tale being offered by Michael "Pinocchio" Kineavy, who insisted he couldn't find subpoenaed e-mail because he dragged it out the the mail' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 06, 2009, 5:35am EDT
  

• I'm just sayin...

  An interesting juxtaposition of business stories in today's New York Times, including a major piece on a prominent Boston company, really makes you think twice whether journalism is still in the business of comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable.
  
  The major takeout on how buyout firms are still [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 05, 2009, 5:22am EDT
  

• Cheeseburgee, cheeseburgee

  I think I may have eaten my last hamburger.
  
  The New York Times' account of the pathetic state of food safety in the United States is must reading. The only thing worse is that we are still talking about slaughterhouse safety more than a century after Upton' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 04, 2009, 11:20am EDT
  

• Walking an anonymous line

  This is one I probably should stay clear off -- an attack on an anonymous blogger by a less-than-anonymous merchant of venom who spews his bile by the ink barrel and across the (very expensive) airwaves.
  
  Obviously I join with "Ernie Boch III" in cherishing the anonymity behind [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 04, 2009, 9:05am EDT
  

• Political stenography

  I'm going to move right past Davegate and Obama's Olympics adventures -- stories that top the heap today as non-events. I'm even going to ignore the oxymoron of a controversy breaking out at at a "lighter" event when the sponsors literally could not let politics stop at the front [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 03, 2009, 8:50am EDT
  

• On the defensive

  From the start, the Menino camp's reaction of the Yoon gambit was been over the top. After last night, it's clear the out-of-left-field move by Michael Flaherty to name the third man in the preliminary field as a "deputy mayor" has truly rattled the campaign.
  
  Following up on [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 02, 2009, 5:23am EDT
  

• All the potential news that's fit to print

  Who critiques the media critics?
  
  That's a worthwhile question this morning when you check out this Washington Post story by media reporter (and leading national media critic) Howie Kurtz:
  

  NBC Universal executives declined to deny a report Wednesday night that Comcast, the cable giant, is in talks [...]

  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 01, 2009, 5:13am EDT
  

• Flip-flip-flip

  Here's some evidence summer really isn't over. Quite a substantial flip-flop.More blogs about Politics.
  var sc_project=1947180; var sc_invisible=1; var sc_partition=17; var sc_security="083b12b0"; ' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: October 01, 2009, 5:11am EDT
  

• Money Pags strikes again

  It's starting to shape up as an interest Democratic primary: gender wars and the absent voter.
  
  Let's take the easy one first: Steve "Money Pags" Pagliuca's run for the Democratic nomination is one of the worst money-driven political ego trips I have ever seen. A spotty [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: September 30, 2009, 5:00am EDT
  

• Slow news day

  There is a faint whiff of something out of place with the report that Massachusetts is on target to fall $200 million short of revenue projections in September.
  
  No, not the numbers. Despite the tax increase and moderate improvement in August it's certainly plausible that a big drop [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: September 29, 2009, 5:03am EDT
  

• Oh what a tangled web we weave

  The Massachusetts health care law may be retaining strong support despite all the blather and lies emerging from Washington, but it does appear to have cost at least one politician his credibility -- assuming he had any left.
  
  Yep, our friend, former Massachusetts resident Myth Romney, is [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: September 28, 2009, 5:18am EDT
  

• It's beginning to look a lot like...

  OK, so I underestimated the Globe's calendar obsession.More blogs about Politics.
  var sc_project=1947180; var sc_invisible=1; var sc_partition=17; var sc_security="083b12b0"; [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: September 28, 2009, 5:15am EDT
  

• The feel of fall

  Yesterday it was acorns (no, the oak tree kind). Today it's foliage.
  
  What are the odds that tomorrow's Globe fronts a story about leaf blowers and noise pollution?
  
  Or about the Sox fading.More blogs about Politics.
  var sc_project=1947180; [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: September 27, 2009, 8:46am EDT
  

• “Even though we are joking these are FOIA-able"

  If Michael Kineavy is as loyal to Boston Mayor Tom Menino as is widely reported, he ought to think about falling on his sword -- today.
  
  Can you say "obstruction of justice"?
  
  The "discovery" of more than 5,000 e-mails previously thought lost -- some related to the [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: September 26, 2009, 8:24am EDT
  

• Quote of the week

  As a public service, I'm offering up a quote that did not make the cut in the Globe's weekly Quotes of Note column. The topic: the US Senate race.
  “This interim appointment just obliterated the regular Senate race, which is far more important,’’ said Jeffrey M. Berry, a' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: September 26, 2009, 8:20am EDT
  

• Senator Kirk

  Does your last name need to begin with a K to be senator from Massachusetts?
  
  The presence of all those Kennedys up on the rostrum was the ultimate punctuation mark on how the fix was in to name Paul Kirk interim senator to fill the seat of the [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: September 25, 2009, 5:22am EDT
  

• Never a dull moment

  Only in Massachusetts can a temporary three-month job bring out the long political knives.
  
  The hot rumor of course is that now that Deval Patrick has the authority to appoint an interim senator he will pick Paul Kirk to warm Ted Kennedy's seat until January. A long-time [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: September 24, 2009, 5:33am EDT
  

• Keep the change

  So much for change you can believe in.
  
  With Tom Menino facing off against Michael Flaherty in the mayoral final in November, Boston is guaranteed the status quo. A long-time mayor versus a long-time city councilor from a long-time Boston political family.
  
  And by rolling up [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: September 23, 2009, 5:23am EDT
  

• Trash talk with The Duke

  With the Massachusetts Senate poised to take up discussion of an interim Senate appointment, both Boston papers offered their thoughts this morning.
  
  The Globe editorial page endorsed Michael Dukakis to warm the seat. The Herald's Margery Eagan trashed him. But in a nice way.
  
  I've' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: September 22, 2009, 5:07am EDT
  

• Overexposed, commercialized?

  To hear the punditocracy yowl, you would think Barack Obama was Bill Mays hawking the Sham-Wow across the cable networks.
  
  Much has been made by Obama's decision to tape five Sunday morning interviews -- a modified full Ginsburg named after Monica Lewinsky's attorney. But when you look at [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: September 21, 2009, 5:24am EDT
  

• Bag Pag

  Has Massachusetts ever seen a vanity candidacy on par with the ego-massaging, bankroll depleting effort launched by Steve Pagliuca?
  
  I start by declaring my undying love for the Boston Celtics and the role Pagliuca and partner Wyc Grousbeck have played in restoring the luster. But that's hardly a good [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: September 20, 2009, 11:41am EDT
  

• Day late, dollar short

  Looks like the casino gambling debate is about to heat up again.
  
  House Speaker Robert DeLeo is doing a 180 on the firm opposition offered by his predecessor, Sal DiMasi, meaning the issue of resort casinos will dominate the legislative final months after 2009 (after they finally deal [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: September 19, 2009, 9:24am EDT
  

• Who's playing politics?

  There are lots of hisses about playing politics and threats of Election Day retribution as a bill to allow Gov. Deval Patrick to name an interim senator inches its way through the Massachusetts Legislature.
  
  And the worst offenders when it comes to political gamesmanship is the tiny [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: September 18, 2009, 5:03am EDT
  

• Stuck in the '80s

  I always knew Massachusetts Republicans were a different breed from their national counterparts. While Joe Wilson and his colleagues are stuck in the Reconstruction politics of the 1880s, the Bay State clan has advanced all the way to the 1980s.
  
  And Dukaka-phobia.
  
  How else to explain the [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: September 17, 2009, 5:06am EDT
  

• Urban Mechanic needs a tune-up

  Wow, is this what it's like to watch a car crash in slow motion?
  
  For a group seemingly skilled in fixing problems, the daily drips of information about the Menino administration's failure to understand, let alone follow the state's public records law is mind-boggling.
  
  Let's start with what [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: September 16, 2009, 5:01am EDT
  

• Stretching credibility

  Secretary of State Bill Galvin was trying to show he was hip when he used Janet Jackson as the metaphor to describe his opinion of Boston city attorney Bill Sinnott's explanation in the case of the missing e-mail.
  “This is sort of a Janet Jackson [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: September 15, 2009, 5:23am EDT
  

• The race is on

  And they're off. Boston Celtics co-owner Steve Pagliuca, apparently rebuffed in his attempt to purchase The Boston Globe has turned his attention to another trophy available for purchase -- a United State Senate seat.
  
  Meanwhile, the lone visible Republican in the field has started his race by' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: September 15, 2009, 5:00am EDT
  

• Tempest in an inbox?

  A week to go before the Boston preliminary election and things finally appear to be heating up. And all because of a sidebar story.
  
  The Globe's major piece yesterday on the melding of the constituent and political operations of Mayor Tom Menino was well-reported [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: September 14, 2009, 5:02am EDT
  

• Can you hear me now?

  It's now been about 24 hours since Verizon called my out-of-service landline to tell me the problem we reported had been fixed the previous afternoon.
  
  Of course, I only found out by calling my voice mail, since the phone didn't ring because the line was' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: September 13, 2009, 9:49am EDT
  

• Planned gridlock

  Speaking of transportation disasters -- what brilliant person is behind the rebuilding of the BU Bridge-Commonwealth Avenue nightmare.
  
  And do they have a clue how to time traffic lights?
  
  Between the drizzle and the challenging experience of going against Red Sox traffic in Kenmore (when will the elevator [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: September 12, 2009, 7:24am EDT
  

• Aloha Aloisi

  Good-bye and good luck Jim Aloisi.
  
  I may not be as critical as the the departing transportation secretary as some other observers -- not that I'm sorry to see him go. Rather I think he served as just the sort of polarizing change agent that was needed to' [...]
  Share | Rate | Archive

  Posted: September 12, 2009, 7:08am EDT